Boy, this chapter sure took a while to write! But it's finished!

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 15: Where It All Began

[BGM: Strange World – Dragon Quest VIII]

"Ah, it's so nice to hear the sound of Medea and the wagon trotting along behind us again." Marisa said as we were walking along the road back to Pickham. "I missed hearin' it before; it just felt wrong without it." I couldn't agree more there.

"That was quite an ordeal we've been through just to get her and Youmu's Hakurouken back." Reimu remarked. "After everything that happened during it, I really hope we won't have to go through something similar again."

"I am so with you there." Trode agreed. "And I'd like to make one thing clear: I won't be setting foot inside Pickham again! From now on, I'll always stay outside town with the carriage. I just can't relax with the Princess out of my sight."

"Speaking of Pickham, I have to admit; I clean forgot about going to see the informer there, what with the Princess being kidnapped and a sword being stolen and all." Angelo admitted. "At this point, it sure would be great if he could give us a lead to Dhoulmagus. But I'm still not overly hopeful, mind you."

"You don't need to worry about that." Yangus reassured. "Trust me, no one knows more about wot's goin' on than Brains!"

"Well, we'll see. I'm not holding my breath. But I suppose we should pay the man a visit, just in case."

"Yeah. Talking to Brains is the whole reason we came to Pickham in the first place, after all." Jessica pointed out. "It would be incredibly stupid if we missed our chance to see him."

Meanwhile, I was walking in pace with Medea's trotting and standing beside her as always. Boy, I sure missed her company after that whole ordeal. As we were getting closer to Pickham to the point where we all could see it at the distance, I suddenly felt Medea nudging on my arm. I already knew why; she does this to me all the time whenever she's hungry for an apple.

"You want a snack?" I asked her as she nodded, and so I reached into my knapsack to pull out a sweet apple. "Here you go." I offered it to her and she immediately eats it up, while I began stroking her mane as she munched on the apple. "It must've been rough for you, getting stuck in a stable with no sweet apples from me to savor, right?" Medea gave a small snort after she swallowed. "When did I get this snarky, you say?" I put my hands on my hips while giving her a smug smile. "And what exactly do you mean by that? I've always been throwing in snarky comments here and there since we were kids!" this led to both of us to laugh (well, Medea at least tried to give her best impression of a laugh).

"Wow, I can't believe you're able to understand her, Eight!" Aya exclaimed. "How are you able to?"

"Oh, I actually don't know why… I just do." I shrugged. "But if I have to give an answer, it's probably due to how much we spent together as children until we would eventually begin to understand each other so well. Call that 'childhood friend intuition', if you will."

"You and Medea must be very close, eh?" Marisa said. "Is there something going on between you two?"

I bit my lip at that. Throughout our adventure, I would try my best to not show everyone else hints that clearly indicates how much I had feelings for Medea. It was a secret that I want to keep it to myself only, and I don't want others to be bothering me with constant romantic teases and whatnot.

"Ah, 'ere we are!" to my relief, Yangus spoke up as soon as we began approaching the entrance to Pickham. Phew, that was a close one. "C'mon, let's go visit Brains's. See if we can get any info from 'im."

"And I'll be staying right here with my Medea." Trode said. "I don't want to risk getting myself involved in any other robbery, thank you very much!"

"We'll be back soon, Your Majesty." I told him, and we walked into Pickham for the second time.

[BGM Pause]

Soon after we arrived, we retraced the steps I, Yangus and Youmu did last time in order to reach Brains's home again, and Yangus gave the door a quick knock.

"The door's open! Come in!" fortunately, unlike last time when there was no answer, a voice in which I assumed to be Brains's called out from the other side.

Yangus would flash a quick cocky grin at us before opening the door, taking us to a room that was filled with books that were either stacked into piles, over the shelves on the back wall or into the bookshelves on the right, and there was also a larger version of the world map I held hanging on the left wall. In the middle of the room, sitting by a long wooden desk, was a frail-looking man with parted blond hair and wearing a pair of round spectacles.

"Hello Brains." Yangus greeted his longtime friend as we approached the desk. "Long time no see. Back at last, eh?"

"Well, well. Look who it is!" Brains said. "You came when I was out, did you Yangus? I'm sorry I wasn't here. But you're back again. So if I'm not mistaken, you must be in need of some information. Am I right?"

"Always on the ball, eh, Brains! We're lookin' for this bloke who looks like a clown. Goes by the name o' Dhoulmagus. He's a slipp'ry customer. Keeps gettin' away from us. Have you 'eard anyfin'?"

"Yes, I've heard about him. The criminal responsible for murdering the Abbot of Maella Abbey, no less…" …How did he know that!? And it wasn't just me who was surprised; I glanced over and saw that everyone else minus Yangus were making the same surprised expressions, which was understandable. "My sources report seeing him walking over the surface of the sea toward the western continent."

"The Western Cont'nent? That's a bit 'azy, innit? Can't ya be more spific?"

Brains shook his head. "Sorry, that's all I know. I wish I could tell you more."

"Well if you don't know nuffin' more, Brains, there ain't nuffin' more to know." Yangus spoke confidently as he turned around to face us, pumping a fist into the air. "We'll 'ave to go to the Western Cont'nent ourselves."

"A fine idea, but aren't you forgetting something? How do you intent to cross the sea?"

Yangus paused. "…Eh?"

"Monster attacks at sea have been significantly worse recently. All crossings from here and from the northern continent have been canceled." Oh… now that's a problem. "You could go if you had your own ship, but unless I'm misinformed, you don't. I'd say that will pose quite a problem."

At this, Yangus turned around to face Brains again. "Er…yeah…I 'adn't thought o' that."

"No, I can see that. Well, perhaps I can help you out there with a little snippet of information I heard. Follow the cliffs along the coast to the west from Port Prospect, and you will come to a wide open wasteland." by the corner of my eye, I could see that Aya was jotting down the information on her notebook. "According to what I hear, there's an old, abandoned ship there. I don't know why a ship should be in a place devoid of water, but anyway… People say it's a magic ship. If you could get it up and running again, you'd be able to sail anywhere you wanted. You might want to try the path to the west of Port Prospect. It was blocked by a rockslide, but I hear that's been cleared up now." huh, how oddly convenient.

"A magical ship in the middle of some wasteland!? Pfft!" Angelo scoffed once we finished reporting to Trode everything that Brains told us after we left Pickham. "Doesn't it all sound a bit far-fetched to you? I wouldn't take this fellow seriously. If you ask me, he's just feeding us rubbish to get us off his back."

"I agree with you." Trode agreed. "Can we really trust this so-called informer?"

"Honestly, I'm actually willing to." Reimu spoke up, causing Trode and Angelo to look at her in surprise.

"You do!?" both of them said in unison.

"This isn't the first time I've heard rumors about a magic ship before. There was one time in Gensokyo when a mysterious treasure ship suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I will admit that I didn't believe it at first, thinking that it was just a stupid rumor, until Sanae confirmed to me and Marisa that it was all true and so the three of us went to investigate it, which did lead up to an incident somewhat."

"But it wasn't just any ordinary treasure ship; it was a flying ship!" Marisa added with a grin.

Trode and Angelo blinked, exchanging glances. "Dear Goddess, just how many crazy incidents has already happened in your world!?" Angelo questioned.

"Oh, you'd be surprised! There was one involving an eternal winter and night, another when the weather and the seasons went all crazy, one where a high amount of earth and divine spirits began showing up, one in which strange black water started gushing out onto the surface…"

"…Okay, okay! I get it!" Angelo finally interrupted Marisa. "Geez, all of this nonstop illogical stuff happening before me…" he groaned. "My life just doesn't make any sense anymore…" Guess what would eventually happen to me after this whole journey…

I, too, was taking in all the information Marisa just threw out. "Wow… you girls really have been through a lot." I said, then my brain went back to the new unfamiliar name Reimu had mentioned while explaining the flying ship incident. "Hey, who was that other person you mentioned before, Reimu… Sanae, was it?" I asked her.

"Oh, yes, that's right." Reimu nodded. "Sanae Kochiya is a shrine maiden, just like me. We used to be rivals before, but now we're good friends."

"I see."

Trode sighed. "So this means we're going to follow that Brains fellow's advice, huh?"

"I mean, we do have a direction now, don't we?" Reisen shrugged. "It's better than nothing."

"Plus, I do recall Yangus mentioning to me and Eight that Brains has been since feeding the residents of Pickham with all sorts of important and urgent information." Youmu recalled. "Think about it; if he really did spout nonsense to them, wouldn't he have gained a bad reputation by now?"

"Exactly." Yangus chimed in. "If word got out that 'e was wrong 'bout somefin', then no-one would come for 'is info no more."

This led Trode and Angelo's eyes to widen, realizing that they were right. "That…actually makes sense." Angelo said flatly.

Yangus flashed a victorious smirk. "See? It ain't that 'ard if you just went wiv logic, eh?" he then took one last look back at his hometown and sighed. "Looks like it's time to say goodbye to Pickham, then. But I'll be back 'ome some time soon, wiv a bit o' luck."

"I'm sure you will, Yangus. Maybe once this journey is over." I smiled.

Yangus looked up at me, mirroring my hopeful expression. "Thanks, guv."

"So, according to Brains…" Aya pulled up her notebook, looking at her written notes. "…we've got to follow the coastline west from Port Prospect, and we'll come across a ship abandoned in the middle of the wasteland. Right?"

"And he said that the path there was blocked by a rockslide before." Remilia added. "I wonder if they've finished clearing it?"

"They must have by now." I said. "Brains did say he heard that it's been all cleared up."

"How it is even possible for him to know that!?" Cirno asked.

"I know, right!?" Jessica threw in. "He even knew about what unfolded at Maella Abbey, despite it happening just a few days ago! And that information wasn't even common knowledge!"

I could only shrug helplessly in response, and a quiet stunned silence followed into all of us.

"…Well, I suppose we could chalk it up as a demonstration of his reliability." Trode shrugged, breaking the silence. "Therefore, if that informer chap in Pickham is right, there should be a ship on the north-eastern continent. We absolutely must have a ship if we're to chase after Dhoulmagus. It is imperative that we go and investigate!"

"Roger that, Sire." I nodded. "I'll Zoom us over to Port Prospect right now!" and so I did.

Sometime later…

[Resume "Strange World" BGM]

"We've been walking a long time, huh?" Jessica sighed wearily as we were walking up a high hill in a region called the Wild Lands. Ever since I warped us back to Port Prospect and headed west, we've been walking for hours. Now this obviously wasn't something new, but at least then we were always on a road. However, in order to get to where we were currently, we had to actually divert from the dirt road and follow a grassy path that wasn't all that eye-catching to begin with unless you had a map. The fact that it was already late afternoon and very close to sundown didn't help, especially when we still haven't found any sights of a ship yet.

"Do you think we're going the right way?" Reisen asked. "This place is a bit scary. We sure don't want to get ourselves lost."

"Well, well… This really does feel like the middle of nowhere." Trode threw in as he surveyed the area, then he turned to me. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"

"Brains did say in the west, Sire." I replied with a shrug before looking ahead. "As far as I see it, all we need to do is keep going until we catch sight of a barren wasteland and sort things out from there."

"You know, it'll be a crying shame if we don't manage to get hold of a ship after all this hard slog." Angelo sighed. "Aah, I can't stand this much longer. Walking around in these mountains is killing me! I'm exhausted."

"We all are, Angelo." Yangus told him. "But we 'ave to keep goin' if we want ta catch Dhoulmagus as soon as possible." he stopped for a bit to wipe out some sweat from his forehead. "Still… if only we could just see where ta find this wasteland from a 'igher view."

"…Of course. Why didn't I think about that!?" Reimu blurted out as if a light bulb just lit up in her head. "Aya, why don't you fly up and look for the wasteland? And maybe with your good eyesight, you could also locate a ship somewhere there."

"Oh, sure thing!" Aya exclaimed and made her crow wings appear. "Wait here, everyone!" with that, she took off upwards into the sky and began scouting around. No sooner after that, she immediately flies down close to us. "I saw it! There's a wasteland just beyond this hill!" she reported.

Our eyes lit up by that. "What about the ship?" Reimu asked.

"Well…I didn't see any ship, but I did spot a weird rock formation somewhere in the distance."

"Weird rock formation?" Jessica raised an eyebrow.

"Come, I'll show you!" Aya invited and we then followed her up to the top of the hill. "Right over there! Do you see it?" she pointed over to the rightmost portion of the wastelands below.

We could barely see it due to its colors almost blending in with the wasteland's rocky mountains, but after we squinted our eyes for a bit, we saw that there was indeed a large rock with a strange formation located over at the direction Aya was pointing. I decided to lean in and squint my eyes even further, and I could make out that rock formation as being almost shaped like a ship. Wait… shaped like a ship…? Surely that couldn't be…!? At this revelation, I went to fish out the map…

"Yeah, that sure is a strange rock formation…" Marisa mused. "But still no ship, huh…"

"Ship… Ship… Answer me, ship…" Angelo called out, until he shook his head. "What am I talking about!? Of course it's not going to answer."

Meanwhile, I was looking at the area of the map where the wastelands were. It was then that I noticed that at the top left corner of the wasteland area, there was a dot that was in a much darker color compared to the rest of the area. That's when it clicked for me; that dark dot might be where the ship is located! I wasted no time in reporting this important discovery to the others: "Everyone! I think that 'rock' we're all seeing is actually the ship we're looking for!"

At this, everyone turned to me in surprise. "Wait, seriously!?" Aya asked before they all looked back at it.

"No way…!" Jessica breathed.

"By the Goddess, I think you could be right!" Angelo gasped.

"My word! It's a huge one!" Trode exclaimed. "How did it even get there!? The sea is miles away, and there's not even a nearby river! Hmm… Most curious." he looked at the landlocked ship thoughtfully for a few seconds before he turned to me once again. "Now then, Eight! This is an order! Take me there right away!"

"As you wish, Your Majesty." I bowed. "Let's go!" and we all began making our way down the hill, where we would find a patch of sand surrounded by tall rocky walls on both sides after turning left that led us to the wasteland at last.

[BGM: Overcome the Rocky Path – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana]

As you might expect yet again, we encountered new monsters during our entire trek around the wasteland. Right at the entrance, a group of Buffalo Wings (yes, that's their actual name) would give us a not-so warm welcome by Psyching Up and charging directly at us. We were barely able to leap out of the way, and then Aya quickly took action.

"Squall: Sarutahiko's Guidance!" she called out, shrouding herself in wind before dashing straight into the Buffalo Wings, knocking all of them into the air where they would get hit by cutter-shaped gusts of wind while they were still airborne, leading to their defeat.

Next, we came upon some Terror Tabbies… who seemed to be more interested in sleeping than fighting. Seeing this and flashing a devilish smirk, Remilia flew closer to them with a spell card in hands. "God Devil: Remilia Stroker!" she rose her hands up to charge a ball of red magic above her head, then it released bat-shaped danmaku that immediately homed in on the Terror Tabbies and killed them all.

"Talk about kickin' 'em while they're down…" Yangus remarked.

"Well, it was amusing to me." Remilia replied in her usual charismatic tone as we walked around some more… when suddenly, Muddy Hands emerged out of the ground. "Ew, gross!" Remilia shrieked while jumping back to avoid any mud from splashing onto her dress.

"Ugh, Muddy Hands…" I groaned. "These guys are pretty annoying since they're resistant to almost every element, and not to mention that they continuously call for more of their kin to assist them."

"Oh, yeah, that does sound pretty annoying." Marisa winced. "What are they weak to?"

"If I remember correctly, they're weak to lightning and explosions."

"Explosions, you say? I got one right here!" Marisa grinned while pulling out what I assumed it's a bomb. "Magic Waste: Deep Ecological Bomb!" she throws it directly at the Muddy Hands, in which it exploded spectacularly on them. Needless to say, none of them survived that. "All done!" she said while dusting off her hands.

"Whoa…" Jessica was impressed. "You know, perhaps I could learn a thing or two about explosive magic from you!" she smirked at Marisa, who smirked back with a wink.

'…Yep, I can totally see those two getting along when it comes to talking about magic.' I thought before we continued on, going down a winding path where we were met with Mud Mannequins.

"What do we have here, now?" Alice asked.

"Mud Mannequins, crude figures made out of mud and animated with magic." I answered. "All they really do is perform a weird dance that can drain away magic power."

"…That's it? Then I'll show them how to be better magically-animated puppets." she steps in as the Mud Mannequins just stared at her, tilting their heads. "Puppeteer Sign: Manipulate Puppet!" but before they could use Weirder Dance on her, they were quickly struck by red and blue danmaku fired from Shanghai, causing them to fall apart and poof away.

As we kept going forward, we could finally see the ship in the distance so we were getting close. The next monsters that blocked our way were Rockbombs, and those guys were a bit dangerous: when hurt enough, then they'll likely going to Kamikazee themselves. And you all might know how devastating the Kamikazee spell is…

After I gave out this information to the Gensokyo girls, Reisen had the idea to just use her ability to mess with the Rockbombs' minds, where one of them would instantly Kamikazee itself and take down others near it (we made sure to keep our distance, obviously) and as for the ones who were just standing there looking confused, Reisen would go for a spell card:

"Illusion Rabbit: Parallel Cross!" aaaand… to me, she was just standing there and not moving at all, yet the Rockbombs were still getting hit by what I presume to be invisible bullets until they were all down. Thankfully, she later explained to me what happened: while that spell card was active, the Rockbombs were seeing multiple Reisens sprout out from the real one and each of them would fire illusionary bullets at the monsters, hence why it looked like they were getting hit by nothing.

Shortly after the defeat of the Rockbombs and as we were closer to fully approaching the ship, Pink Pongos came to ambush us by coming down from above and swinging their clubs at us. Since they caught us by surprise, we wouldn't have time to dodge that and we braced ourselves… only that we weren't hit at all. Instead, the Pink Pongos have struck a barrier created by Reimu and were left shocked…which only gave her the opportunity to attack them back.

"Prayer: Disaster-Dispelling Prayer!" she called out, throwing out a single ofuda that magically split itself into several ofudas, hitting all of the Pink Pongos and leading to their demise. "That takes care of them." Reimu said and with that, we could finally approach the ship ahead.

[BGM: Traveling with Wagon – Dragon Quest VIII]

Words cannot express how much we all marveled at the huge vessel standing before us. It was undoubtedly way larger than the ferry we previously used to travel from Port Prospect to Peregrin Quay, and maybe even sturdier enough to brave the fiercer ocean waves and storms despite having the appearance of an old ship model. The ship itself had oars on both sides, a single mast in the middle with a crow's nest, and there appeared to be a propeller-shaped structure beneath the nest.

"…Well, I never! What have we here!?" Trode exclaimed as he ran closer to the ship. "Yes… This must be it! The ancient ship we heard about in Pickham!"

"Unbelievable…" Angelo whispered in shock. "The ship actually exists!?"

Yangus smirked triumphantly. "I knew we could trust my pal Brains. He ain't never wrong! I can bet that 'e knows more 'bout people than they know 'bout themselves!"

"It really does make me wonder how he knows so much about places that are so far away from his home." Alice pondered.

"Yeah, it's pretty strange and more than a bit unnerving too." Youmu threw in. "A lot like Pickham, I guess."

"Hey, what matters is that we found the ship!" Cirno exclaimed. "Now we can pick up that mean old jester's trail again!"

"But…it's quite enormous, though." Jessica reminded. "How on earth will we get it down to the sea?"

"Hmm…" Trode mused. "I must admit, I'm rather stumped myself. If only it wasn't quite so far inland…" then an idea came to him as he turned to me, eyes shining with renewed hope. "I know! Eight, show me the map!" I complied and knelt down so that he could see the map, while everyone else peered down from behind me. "Now let's see. Here's my castle. Which means now we must be… Hm. Here!? Unbelievable! We're directly south of the castle! I had no idea we were so close to home. Hm… In that case, we should go back to the castle and see if we can find mention of this ship in the library. We might just find a clue!"

[BGM: Gria Recollection – Ys IX: Monstrum Nox]

That was the moment it hit me, and it hit me hard…but not in a good way as I began to pale up: we were about to head back to the very place I dreaded returning. Yes, that grim memory still haunted me even after retelling it to all of you way back at the Waterfall Cave. Because I would always feel sick to the core just by remembering it, I was afraid that I might get heavily traumatized if we did step back there. But alas, we had no other choice. And besides, my party would eventually need to know what happened; I can't keep this hidden from them forever, since it was the main motive as to why I set out on this journey, after all.

"There's no time to lose! We must return to Trodain! To the castle!" Trode ordered as I rolled up the map.

"…Alright." I replied stoically, trying to hide my uneasiness as I stood back up and we started making our way out of the wasteland.

As I expected, Alice would be the one to see through my façade as she walked up to me and asked, "Are you okay, Eight? The way you answered Trode just now felt…off to me."

"It's nothing, Alice. I'm fine." I replied, keeping my mask on.

However, that only led her to narrow her eyes. "…Eight, I know you're hiding something. Remember that I'm able to see through lies in anything, including people."

I sighed, having no choice but to drop my mask. There's just no way to lie to her, huh? "…Okay, you got me." I then addressed not just Alice, but also to Yangus and the rest of the Gensokyo girls. "Guys, do you all remember back when I lashed out about a subject that was sensitive to me back at the Waterfall Cave?"

Said group of nine began to ponder, until their eyes perked up. "Oh, yeah! I remember that!" Aya exclaimed. "It had something to do about what Geyzer said about the curse and you being the sole survivor of it, right?"

I nodded firmly. "Exactly. Everything that Geyzer said is actually true."

They exchanged surprised glances. "So you were being serious back then…" Alice mused.

"You really was a soldier at Trodain Castle, weren't ya, guv? Oho, now I can't wait to see the place!" Yangus grinned excitedly. "I bet there'll be 'undreds of men there quiverin' at the thought of 'ow brave you are! You'll be a star! I can 'ardly contain meself! Doubt I'll be able to get much kip tonight!"

…What. Yangus… why!? Why would make this situation even WORSE for me!? I stopped walking, my body trembling while my hands balled into fists, as my knuckles were turning white. "Yangus, for the last time… I'M THE LONE SURVIVOR!" I lashed out at him just like back at the Waterfall Cave, but this time, in a mixture of anger and despair. "The whole reason I'm traveling is because there's NOTHING left of the home I grew up in! This whole journey we're going through isn't some fun day out, it's a quest to restore Trodain to normal and free its people from the curse! If there had been anyone else left there, they would have come with us! And not to mention that I'm hardly a star; I'm still only a trainee, the lowest soldier rank in the royal guard, remember!? Hardly the best escorts of the royal family!"

Once again, just like back then, Yangus and the Gensokyo girls were left stunned and speechless, but with the added bonus of Jessica, Angelo, Trode and Medea witnessing it as well. After I finally got all of that out of my chest (by unfortunately taking it all out on Yangus…), I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down for the second time. "I'm sorry for my outburst, everyone…" I muttered. "It's just that… I'm really stressed out at the thought of having to return to Trodain after what happened…"

"There, there…" Trode soothed sympathetically, while Medea trotted over to me and gently nuzzled on my arm. "I understand that you're traumatized, but we absolutely must head back there. The sooner we acquire the ship, the sooner we can defeat Dhoulmagus and break the curse."

"Yes, I know that, Sire." I sighed. "But I just can't help it; every time I think about returning to Trodain, I would always get this unpleasant feeling because of everything that I witnessed after the curse hit."

To my surprise, Trode walked over to me and hugged my legs. "Well…in that case, then I'll make sure to always stick to your side once we step in there. How does that sound?"

"…I guess that could help."

"Good. I promise you that I won't ever leave your side, my boy." aw… he might be a self-absorbed blowhard, but he can show genuine kindness and care whenever needed (especially if it's towards Medea). In fact, he's kind of starting to be more like a father figure to me than the usual treatment of a king and his vassal. That was enough for me to crack a small smile, touched by Trode's kind words.

[BGM: The Sibylline Road – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana]

Soon, we finally made it out of the wasteland and back onto the grassy hills… in Trodain's territory. "Trodain Castle… It's been some time now since I was last there." Trode sighed, looking up at the hills ahead as if he could see beyond them. "Ah, my poor castle, my poor subjects…"

"Yeah, I heard a rumour about that place even before meeting you all. It got cursed and turned into a ruin overnight." Angelo said. "I suppose that explains how the horse-princess and the troll king ended up looking like they do. That Dhoulmagus really is a nasty piece of work."

"You're telling me." Jessica agreed.

"Still, I do wonder if the situation over there really is that bad." Reimu wondered, then she turned to me. "How would you say about it, Eight?"

"Well…" I began. "When I left, it was almost like how Ascantha was during its period of mourning, only far worse." I would then cresfall sadly. "Now it'll probably be worse still. I guess you'll just have to wait and see it for yourselves."

"By the way you said it, I'm starting to dread it already…" Reisen trailed off.

Just then, we heard strange noises and we looked up ahead to see… yep, more monsters waiting for us. As if this whole situation couldn't get grimmer enough…

"Heads up, monsters incomin'!" Yangus exclaimed, and we drew out our weapons again.

The first monsters in line were a Boe, Boh, Mum and Jum. I heard that these guys have an affinity for cheese, so I took out a Super Spicy Cheese that immediately caught the attention of the four enemies as they ran towards me… but then I would quickly feed the cheese to Munchie, who unleashed Inferno at them. Angered, the four enemies would do what I have been fearing: they combined themselves into one large monster, the Mumboh-Jumboe. And don't let this silly name fool you; this guy is extremely powerful, as it's able to cast explosive spells or shake the ground in fury.

Obviously, I wasn't going to let any of both happen so thanks to the Holy Lance I bought in Pickham, I was able to perform a Thunder Thrust and deliver a powerful blow that made the monster tumble to the ground, then Jessica finished it off with a successful Assassin's Stab, killing it instantly. Next was a group of Devilmoths that flew over and attempted to poison us with a Venom Mist, but Aya blew the mist away by swinging her fan, allowing Angelo to cast Swoosh on the Devilmoths before shooting them down with arrows to kill them.

With the first wave of monsters taken care of, we continued onwards and headed right into a cave. Inside, we trekked along until our path was eventually blocked by a Diemon, who immediately rolled the die before launching a Thin Air at Yangus, but he dodged it and retaliated with an Executioner skill, bringing the monster down. The path was cleared, and we were able to exit the cave. As soon as we did, we could finally spot the castle at the distance… in which it had ominous purple clouds swirling around. And the closer we were getting to the castle, the more nervous I felt.

The path leading to the castle transitioned from grass to dirt, since it stood at the region's highest rocky hill. The moment we stepped into the dirt path, a wave of Hawk Men suddenly came in and began flying overhead of us in circles… but before they could divebomb at us, Cirno flew up to them with a smirk on her face, ready to unleash a spell card.

"Ice Sign: Fairy Spin!" she called out and spun in place, releasing icicles in all directions and thus making it hard for the Hawk Men to dodge them. Ultimately, they would all die by getting struck by multiple icicles at once.

We then progressed through the rest of the hill, and by the time we reached the entrance, it was sunset. But as we were about to head through the entrance… we suddenly heard a loud caw as we looked up to see a group of Garudas flying overhead of us, where they would then fly down to us and cast Sizzle, but Youmu cut through the flames with Roukanken before going for a spell card.

"Ghost Sword: Fasting of the Young Preta!" she called out and in just the blink of an eye, she dashed to the side while doing a horizontal slash in front of her, where blue arrowhead-shaped danmaku shot out of it and hit the stunned Garudas, clearing them all out in an instant.

[BGM End]

At last, we could finally head through the entrance and cross the stone bridge, the final stretch leading to the castle's gates. I really want to say that I was prepared, but my nerves were up to the max at this point, and I could feel my heart beating faster in my chest. Despite that, I tried my best to keep cool as we approached the gates… only to see it covered with thick interwoven vines. Wait…HUH!? I swear that those weren't there when I closed the gates last time as I left with Trode and Medea! No… Could it be that…the curse is starting to spread!? Panic was now seeping into me, as I stood in front of the gates completely still with a horrified look on my face.

This, of course, did not go unnoticed by my party. "Guv, is somethin' up?" Yangus asked in concern. "Ya look like you've seen a ghost…"

My lower lip trembled as I tried to find my words, until I managed to speak out, "Th-Those vines… They weren't there before!"

"And what's wrong with that?" Reimu questioned. "These vines could have just grown, you know."

"B-But they're cursed vines! They can't possibly grow like normal vines! Is the curse spreading already!? What would-…"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" Angelo exclaimed, interrupting my panicked train of thought as he grabbed me by my shoulders. "It can just be another effect of the curse. Forget about it, or you'll end up going paranoid. There's nothing we can do about the curse until we kill Dhoulmagus, so let's focus on that."

"R-Right…" I replied after taking a few deep breaths to calm myself down again, then I walked over to the gates and attempted to push them open… but as I expected, they wouldn't budge. "Yep. No dice." I said as I looked back at my party while shaking my head.

"Hm, we sure can't get in like this." Trode said dryly. "Unless…" an idea came to him as he turned to Jess. "Jessica, can you get rid of these thorns with some of your hocus pocus?"

"I guess I can give it a try." Jessica replied uncertainly as she walked towards the gates, while I at the same time walked back to give her some space. "Let's see…" she puts her arms in front of her and concentrated, creating a ball of fire from her hands. She then launches it at the vines, successfully burning them down. "There!" she turned to us with a satisfied smile. "Just don't ask me to get rid of all of them, okay? My magic may be powerful, but it's not that powerful!"

"Atta girl!" Marisa grinned approvingly.

[BGM: One Dream, One Reality – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana]

Finally walking through the castle gates, we arrived at the sorry remains of Trodain Castle – the epicenter of the curse. It looked exactly how I remember back then: large thorns and vines either tearing through or wrapped tight around the castle walls, spires and windows. The courtyard wasn't in good condition either as there was no one left to tend to it: the trees, bushes and grass were all dried up, and flower beds and box gardens were ripped apart by the thorns. And that's not even mentioning what I think is the worst of it: the humanoid plants that used to be normal, breathing people who were turned this way by being struck by the giant snaking thorns, essentially becoming part of them and looking like motionless dead husks. In fact, pretty much everything in here could be considered dead; absolutely nothing else remained. The orange skies, tinted by its dusk hours, even managed to give this place a further sad, eerie feeling.

And then there was the sound. Apart from the clip-clopping of Medea's hooves and the rattle of the wagon on the cobblestone pathway, there wasn't any. Just silence.

Along with a distressed look on my face, I found myself paling up again, even more so than when Medea was kidnapped before I took a quick glance at my party. I saw that Yangus, Jess, Angelo and the girls shared similar expressions as they surveyed the area around: a mixture of awe, disbelief, shock and horror. Meanwhile, Trode was just as distressed and as pale as I was, even seeming to be a lighter shade of green than normal, and Medea was trying her best to look sad in her horse form.

"Oh, my poor castle! It used to be so beautiful, but now it's in ruins." Trode lamented. "And it's all because of Dhoulmagus's evil curse. That's when our journey began, when the castle's secret treasure was plundered…"

[BGM Pause]

Well, looks like it's finally time for you all (and my party) to learn how it all began. Trode and I were also telling the others what happened, but there are some bits we couldn't tell because either of us weren't present or we were unconscious at those parts. But as for you readers, you'll get to hear the full version!

So, without further ado, this is it…

Flashback

[BGM: Yesterday in Etania – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana]

It was a peaceful cold night in Trodain. At the castle's east wing balcony stood Medea, looking up at the night sky.

"Ah, there you are, Princess." Trode said as he approached his daughter from behind. "I know you like to look at the stars, but it's a little chilly to be outside. Perhaps you should retire to your chamber?"

"Of course, Father." Medea replied, turning to face Trode. "I'll come right away." she follows him back inside.

There, the two were walking along the halls silently. Everything was normal, like any ordinary day in Trodain… but as you might expect, that night was about to be different and a dramatic turn of events would unfold.

[BGM: Mysterious Seiren – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana]

To start off, Trode and Medea would eventually stop walking… due to coming across a downed soldier in the middle of the hallway. "W-What's this!? What's going on!?" Trode gasped as he and Medea rushed over to him.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" Medea called loudly, her voice echoing around the halls. "There's a man injured here. Somebody please call a doctor!"

Trode knelt down to the soldier and proceeded to shake him awake. "Speak to me! I command you! Tell me what happened here!"

The soldier's eyes flickered open weakly, dizziness washing over him as he struggled to focus on Trode. "Y-Your Majesty… S-Somebody… Th-The sealed chamber… Urgh."

"The sealed chamber!? But surely no one would…!?" Trode glanced up at the doors in front of him, and he immediately gets back up to barge through them. He looked around the room, seeing another fallen soldier to the left before shifting his gaze to the tall stairway that led to the sealed chamber.

"Father, the intruder may still be up there. It's too dangerous for you to go alone." Medea protested.

"Yes, but what if… I can't just stand by and let someone steal it!"

"I know. So I'll go with you." You know, now that I think about it… It sure was good that Medea decided to follow Trode; otherwise, she would've suffered the same thorny fate as the other castle residents.

"Hm? I don't know… Well, if there's no other alternative…"

And so the two went up the stairway to reach the chamber, where they found Dhoulmagus standing before the scepter that was bounded in the middle of the room by chains. Interestingly, Dhoulmagus's appearance was a little different than how he looks now: his hair was black instead of white, and his skin tone was a natural peach color in contrast to the deathly, gray pallor.

Just as Dhoulmagus began to reach for the scepter, Trode shouted at him: "You! What do you think you're doing!? I forbid you to touch that sceptre!"

Dhoulmagus then turned to look at the two, with a malicious grin on his face. "Why if it isn't King 'Troll' and Princess 'Mare-dea'." he sneered. "I didn't expect you to find me… But what's done is done. Tell me, is this sceptre as powerful as people say?"

"You're that jester…" Trode breathed, binding his time as he weighed up the situation. "You came to my castle so you could steal the sceptre!?"

"Well deduced! You save me the bother of explaining myself, Your Majesty! I heard all about it. About a legendary magical sceptre sealed deep inside Castle Trodain. And about how it could bestow ultimate magical powers… With this, nothing can stop me from becoming the greatest magician of all time! Then I'll have my revenge on that scornful snob of a Master who made a fool of me!"

"Stop! That sceptre must never leave this castle!" Trode yelled in desperation, but Dhoulmagus didn't listen to him as he reached out for the sceptre again.

"Ha ha ha hah. Nothing can stop me!"

[BGM End]

With those words said, Dhoulmagus grabbed the scepter and lifted it off the ground with enough force to make the chains fixing it snap off, creating a windy shockwave that blew Trode back, while Medea struggled to keep herself on her feet.

"I see no reason to delay this any further." Dhoulmagus said, turning back and facing them. "Time to unleash its true power… King Trode. You will be my first guinea pig." at this, Dhoulmagus aimed the scepter directly at Trode and fired a red beam of magic at him…

"FATHER, LOOK OUT!" but then Medea cried out as she suddenly threw herself in front of Trode…and right at the beam's direction to take the hit. Unfortunately, that didn't matter anyways as both of them were struck by it and screamed in agony before a white light engulfed their bodies.

Once the light faded, Trode and Medea were now lying unconscious on the floor in their cursed forms that you're all too familiar with, as Dhoulmagus looked down at the scepter with a disappointed expression. "Hm? Is that the best it can do?" he questioned before he looked back at the transformed pair. "The mare I can see, but you look more like a toad than a troll to me!" then he glanced down at the magic circle on the floor. "…Ah, but wait! The magic circle here must be restricting its full powers. Ha ha ha. If I can take it away from here, I'll see what it can really do!" and with that, he left the room.

Eventually, he arrived at the castle's main balcony as the new spot to test out the scepter's powers again. "Come, precious sceptre!" he called out as he rose it into the air. "Show me your true power!" and nigh immediately, the scepter's glowing red aura flowed into him. "…Oh yes! What incredible magic! Perfect!" he exclaimed, savoring the moment.

[BGM: Evil Hands of Shadows – Dragon Quest XI S]

Unfortunately, it quickly came to the point that it was too much for him to handle. "S-So powerful… I… I can't c-control it…" and then… "AAAAAARGH!" cue that familiar, vile scream as giant thorns shot out around Dhoulmagus… aaaaand you all know what happens if you recall what I mentioned all the way back…

What I didn't mention, however, is that while this chaos was happening, Trode had regained consciousness just in time to witness the thorns snaking their way into the sealed chamber.

"W-What on earth!?" he cried in shock, still unaware of his and Medea's new forms. At the same time, the magic circle around the two was shining, protecting them from the advancing thorns as they would change its course to simply circling around the room instead.

Soon, the destruction ceased and the dust settled, leaving the entire castle and its residents in the states they are now at the present day. As for Dhoulmagus, who was hunched over at the main balcony, he had taken on the new appearance he currently has now…

"…Ah! Ha ha ha hah. Aha ha ha ha ha ha hah. Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haah." and started laughing evilly and manically… then he would bend himself backwards and laugh some more, "Hah! Wah ha ha ha hah! Huh huh huh huh huh! Kya ha ha ha hah!" after that, he took off into the skies.

[BGM End]

As dawn came to a close… that's when I would wake up as the lone survivor, and the rest is history.

End Flashback

[Replay "One Dream, One Reality" BGM]

"So that's what happened…" Reimu said as only she, Marisa, Alice, Youmu and Reisen had listened attentively to the story, while as for the rest… I'll get there in a moment.

"Geez, how could a magic scepter have this much power?!" Marisa asked. "Whoever crafted that must've been quite a power-hungry fella."

"I may have an affinity for magic, but not even I would want to get my hands on that scepter." Alice said. "It's just too much magic power. And I know that there's always a limit for everything."

"*sigh* It's just so sad to see that an entire kingdom has fallen in just a single night…" Youmu lamented.

"True, I feel nervous just by standing around here." Reisen agreed, then she looked up at me in sympathy. "I cannot even imagine how hard that must've been for you, Eight…"

"It was definitely not a pleasant morning for me." I sighed sadly. "I was so scared; I ended up bawling my eyes out after I wandered around the castle and realized there was no one left… until I encountered Trode and Medea."

"There's just one thing that I don't get it, though…" Trode mused as he, along with Medea, glanced at me. "That day… We were inside the magic circle, but you weren't. How did you manage to survive?"

Here we go again with the topic of my strange immunity to curses… "I wish I could tell you why, but I still don't have an answer that makes sense, unfortunately. In fact, I've asked myself the same question many times ever since I didn't get affected by the curse… and then there's the odd fact that I seem to be immune to every single type of curse, which doesn't help."

"That's right; I've been noticing that ever since you defended me from Geyzer's cursed mist back then." Reimu recalled. "Normally, I would accept that being born with curse immunity as completely normal by Gensokyo standards… but this isn't Gensokyo. After everything I've witnessed in this world, it's quite obvious that logic from our world just can't apply to this one. There has got to be an explanation for this strange phenomenon in you."

"I agree with you. I just…can't come up with anything right now."

"…Hm, who knows?" Trode shrugged. "Maybe it was just luck. You've always been a lucky one…"

"Oy, guv!" just then, Yangus's voice called out as we all looked over to see him, Jessica, Angelo and the remaining Gensokyo girls (those being Cirno, Remilia and Aya) standing by the fountain ahead. "Wot are you, the old codger an' the rest o' the gals jabberin' on about back there, eh!? Ain't we s'posed to be swottin' up on that ship? Come on, get a move on!"

We all blinked while exchanging stunned glances, before nodding to each other and joining the other group at the fountain. "…Ah, yes, of course. The castle library should be just over there." Trode said, gazing over at the west wing as everyone else followed. "…But now it's quite impossible to get through the door like this." and indeed; the doorway to the library was completely entangled in vines. "Luckily, there is another way into the library from within the castle. We shall have to use that entrance." he points over to the double doors at the main balcony, which were the only ones left untouched by the vines.

"Right." I nodded. "Well…time to go." we all proceeded to make our way towards those doors.

"I can't believe Dhoulmagus did this to the castle all by himself…" Jessica whispered. "I had no idea he was that strong! Are we really going to be able to beat someone like that? Even with a ship…?"

"Only someone as wicked as Dhoulmagus could sink so low… Subjecting innocent people to such misery!" Angelo growled. "We have to take care of him once and for all. We can't let him get away with this any more!"

"Indeed!" Trode threw in. "Dhoulmagus's curse took everything away from me! I will not rest until that wretched grinner has been held to account for his innumerable crimes!" Medea then lets out a neigh in agreement. "Oh, my poor Medea! Don't worry, my dear. You will be beautiful again!"

"Speaking of which… Where exactly are we going to leave Medea while we'll be exploring the castle?" Aya wondered, looking around as we were nearing the spiraling stairs (we had to approach the ones on the left since the ones on the right were destroyed). "There's no doubt that monsters might come in here at any time, and she can't even fight back."

Hearing this, Medea gave a loud whinny…and once again, I was able to tell what she was trying to say. "Huh? You want to come in with us?" I guessed, and she nodded.

"My dear, it will likely to be difficult for you to move around inside." Trode warned her. "And not to mention these stairs." Medea responded with another whinny, only this time making it sound more insisting. "*sigh* Very well, then. If you insist." Medea gave out a satisfied snort.

"I and Aya could try to carry her over the stairs, if that helps." Remilia offered as she and Aya got to work, with the vampire holding Medea's upper half while the tengu held the lower half, and they both carefully carried her over to the balcony while the rest of us went up the stairs normally. When we were all at the balcony, I opened the double doors and we headed through.

We now stood at the castle's second floor, on the walkways above the throne room below. Now that we were actually inside the castle, my party could see even more of the damage and destruction caused by the curse: more vines were lining up the walls and the floor, banners and carpets were ripped apart by the rampaging thorns, paintings were torn, statues were broken and discarded, and candles and flower vases were toppled to the floor due to a thick thorny vine having snaked its way through their respective spots. Just everywhere they looked was a thorny vine. The biggest ones were as thick as our wagon, with one in particular having plunged down towards the throne room. Others were branching off and entangling around the walkways' railings, broke through the windows or smashed their way through the walls or the roof.

"That's a lotta spiky thorns…" Yangus breathed. "Just lookin' at them all makes me go prickly all over."

"If those were giant flowers instead… Yuuka would definitely be having a field day with this." Marisa said, which led Cirno and Reisen to shudder, and Reimu, Youmu and Aya to sport unpleasant looks on their faces.

"Ugh, don't even get me started on that…" Reimu muttered.

"Based on your reactions, sounds like you girls' relationship with this Yuuka isn't a good one." I noted.

"She's quite a strange fellow, I tell you." Marisa said. "Oh, and if you want to know, Yuuka Kazami is a youkai that manipulates flowers, and that power of hers can range from harmless to destructive levels."

"Yeah, like that one time where she destroyed my shrine with a single giant flower." Reimu grumbled. "Seriously, is it any wonder why I initially accused her of being the culprit behind the Sixty Year Cycle Great Barrier Incident?"

Marisa chuckled. "Something tells me that you just wanted to get back at her for what she did to your shrine, but I get your point."

Once again, I didn't understand much of what they were talking about, and the same could be said for Yangus, Jess, Angelo, Trode and Medea judging by their blank looks. However, before any of us could say anything else, we suddenly heard noises coming from the throne room below… and several monsters consisting of Cureslimes, Dragonthorns, Hunter Mechs, Infernal Armours and Wailin' Weeds came over to us on the second floor either by flying or by climbing the columns, ready to confront us. Well, darn it… Those were the same monsters I, Trode and Medea fled from as we were leaving the castle. They must've heard our conversation and decided to come out of hiding just now.

"Leave this to me." before we could even launch an attack, Youmu walked in front of us. "Getting attacked constantly by those monsters is going to ruin the mood, so let me do some cleaning up." she grips the handle of Roukanken, while she held a spell card on her other hand. "Hell Realm Sword: Two Hundred Yojana in One Slash!" and in the blink of an eye, she completely disappeared only to come right back after just 1 second… and by the time she did, all of the monsters were history. "There we go. No more interruptions in here." Youmu sheathed her weapon and turned to face us with a smile.

We all excluding the Gensokyo girls were left speechless. "…Okay, what did you just do!?" Jessica asked.

Youmu giggled. "I figured you would want to know. As the name of my spell card says, I just traveled two hundred yojanas in milliseconds to wipe out every single monster in the castle. In case you're wondering, a yojana is equivalent to 6 to 15 kilometers."

"So that means… you just traveled 1200 to 3000 kilometers in milliseconds?!" Angelo replied after doing the calculations. "Th-That's… wow." Yeah… That's pretty damn fast!

"…Well, I'm just glad that my castle is cleared of monsters." Trode said. "But that obviously isn't going to last forever, so we better get moving."

"You're right, Sire." I agreed.

And thus began the point where I, Trode and Medea decided to show the others around the castle before going to the library (mostly because the Gensokyo girls requested us to) …even if the tour wasn't going to be a happy and welcoming one. Because the castle was so big, I'll only be listing the highlights.

As we got to a narrow hall after going through the door on the right side of the walkway, that's where we were met with the unfortunate sight of the first residents that looked like were in the middle of fleeing from the chaos, only to get struck and turning them into part of the thorny vines. "Oh my…" Youmu breathed.

"I-I can't believe it…" Reimu trailed off. "Even if they might still be alive, they just seem so lifeless. This is way creepier than what happened to the humans who lost all hope during that particular incident…"

"Oh, I see what you meant." Marisa spoke up. "Yeah, at least back in that incident, they were still physically human… but here? They're hardly ever considered human anymore by literally becoming plants shaped like themselves."

"True. Those thorny vines completely stripped away their humanity, much like what happened with Trode and Medea." Alice added. "It's just…so sad. And that's coming from someone who doesn't care much about other people."

Meanwhile, Angelo was holding his hands in prayer. "I know a prayer isn't going to do much to help these people, but at least it eases my conscience." he said once he was done. "Let's just keep going."

"I'll say, I'm honestly surprised that more weapons and armor had survived the destruction…" Trode mused, as we were now in the castle's armory that was located next to the royal guard's quarters at the east wing. Since we wouldn't be coming back here anytime soon, we figured we could take anything we would need for whatever else this journey might throw at us next.

"It feels a bit wrong for me to be borrowing stuff in here…" Jessica muttered. "Like we're being grave-robbers."

"Hey, no need to fret. All the items in here belong to me, and I give you permission to take anything you can carry. Besides, they will do no-good if they rust away."

After a while, we got all the items we needed… and boy, did we get a lot of them: some gold coins and Magic Water, a Garter, another Gold Bracer, a piece of Magic Beast Hide and Rock Salt (which I instantly knew I could use these as Alchemy ingredients later), a Rusty Sword, a Templar's Sword, a Silver Platter, a Titan Belt, a Rune Staff, a Platinum Headgear and an Agility Ring.

Satisfied with what we got, we left the armory and resumed exploring.

"This was Medea's attendant." Trode said, directing to a cursed young maid in the castle's guest room at the third floor.

"I can tell that she must've been a formidable woman." Angelo lamented. "What a sorry state to be in…"

Meanwhile, Medea was looking at her attendant clearly in sadness and distress as she let out a sad whine, leading Remilia to frown in pity at her. "I know how you feel…" she sighed sadly, patting Medea on the side of her face. "I would also be as devastated as you are if this happened to my own attendant as well."

"Are those really thorns on her?" Cirno wondered as she flew over to poke one of the small thorns that punctuated the young maid's face… aaaaand the ice fairy immediately pulls back her finger. "Ouch! Those are thorns!"

"Idiot…" Reimu and Marisa muttered in unison as the rest of my party facepalmed, while I sighed and walked over to Cirno to see her pricked finger bleeding out, and so I casted Heal on her to mend her injury.

"Why would you do that?" I questioned.

"I got curious…" Cirno sighed, crying anime-like tears.

"Medea used to play the piano exquisitely, but I don't suppose her hooves are as nimble as her fingers were." Trode said as we stood in front of the piano, now entangled with vines, in the piano room that was located on the opposite side of the guest room.

"Were you really good at playing the piano, Medea?" Jessica asked her as she nodded in response, leading the redhead to smile. "That's nice. I'd like to hear a piece from you someday once we break the curse."

Trode then attempts to play the piano by hitting a few key notes. "Even her beautifully warbling voice has turned into a beautifully whinnying voice… What a wretched situation!" Medea gave out a sad snort, prompting Trode to go over to her. "But I swear I shall see you turned back to your former self, my precious child!"

That led us to glare at him with a deadpan. "You mean WE shall see you turned back…" Marisa muttered.

"Oh, whatever! Let's keep moving!"

"Wot's this…?" Yangus asked as we arrived in the sealed chamber at the fourth floor. While this room was also in shambles as with the other ones, the very center of it wasn't touched by the vines; all due to the magic circle on the floor where the scepter was once contained until Dhoulmagus took it. The chains, now rusted, that held the scepter in place were still there, lying discarded on the floor.

"It appears to be a magic circle." Angelo said. "Was this the place where the scepter was kept in?"

"Yes, indeed." Trode nodded. "And it was this magic circle that saved Medea and I from the thorns."

"So this is where it all began…" Aya mused.

"But all my loyal servants… Well, you all just saw what a terrible fate has befallen them. But I suppose I should be thankful they weren't killed. In the end, though, the magic circle my ancestors drew to protect the world from the power of the sceptre helped only to protect their descendants from it."

"…Oh, I get it now." Youmu spoke up. "From what you said, the magic circle's power would only work on the ones who descended from its creators. So even if Eight or anyone else in the castle stepped into it…"

It instantly clicked me. "…we wouldn't have been protected from the curse anyways." I finished her sentence. "Well, I only managed to get away scot-free from it due to my strange curse-immunity… but still."

"Aaaah… It's just so utterly heart-wrenching." Trode sighed, then glanced up at Medea. "But I suppose we must be grateful for our ancestors." he paused. "…Although I would be more grateful if they had also protected us from these vexing transformations!"

"Hmm… Maybe it actually did, in a way." Alice said. "Dhoulmagus referred to you as 'King Toad', didn't he? Yet you didn't get turned into one, so perhaps it was the magic circle's doing."

Trode looked appalled by that, realizing she had a good point. "Goodness, and I thought my current condition was bad!"

"…You realized that it could've been a lot worse just now?" Reimu deadpanned. "Medea can't even speak since she's been turned into an animal, so imagine if you really did turn into a frog also incapable of speech. Would anyone – including Eight – even recognize you?"

Trode stood silent as if taking in Reimu's words, and then replied, "…Yes, I suppose I am grateful for small mercies like this one. At least I still have the gift of speech… while poor Medea must find it a terrible strain, unable to communicate as she is."

"It's okay, we get by." I said fondly, while Medea gave a nod and a small snort.

"*sigh* I suppose…"

Eventually, we had gone down to the first floor and into the now majestic ruin that was the throne room. The many windows surrounding it were cracked and broken, the grand chandelier hanging on the ceiling was coming loose and dangling lopsided due to the vines entangling it, the floor had pieces of fallen debris scattered all over it, and even more thorny vines were pouring through the walls and floor, striking the few lingering guests. But there was one person in the room that caught Trode's attention the most: the chancellor himself, who sat frozen on the King's throne.

"Oh, my poor minister! The curse has deformed you too…" Trode mourned the transformed chancellor in front of him. "…Although, it was unleashed in the middle of the night… So what were you doing in the courtroom? On my throne!?" he then starts jumping up and down in anger. "So! You enjoy the feeling of being enthroned, do you!? Well your secret is out now, you frivolous old fool!"

We all sweatdropped. "…No comment on that." I spoke. Moving on…

"What is that horrible smell?" Trode wondered as we walked into the castle's kitchen, the smell of mold entering his and our nostrils… that you can pretty much guess where it was coming from. If you guessed the food, you are correct. Some of the tables and chairs were uplifted by the thorns that stood in their way, but there were a few standing ones that were still laid with the long-rotted (and molding) remains of the servants' own dinner, while their empty plates and discarded cutlery were left abandoned as they waited for their clean-up that never came.

"Neglected remains of food, that's what!" Jessica stated the obvious, pinching her nose.

"Ugh, just when I thought things couldn't get any-… Good Goddess!" Trode suddenly cried, as he rushed over to a cursed chef that was lying on the floor. "Ah, my head chef. There's nothing quite like your scrambled eggs! But when will I taste them again?"

"Well, there's only one clear answer to that; getting rid of the curse." Reisen stated, then she looked at the rotten food. "It almost reminds me of when Lady Kaguya eventually stopped using her powers of eternity on our food to prevent it from ever spoiling…"

We then left the dining room, coming across a lone door on the right corner; the back entrance of the library. "Ah, there it is." Trode said.

"Is this the alternate entrance to the castle's library?" Aya asked. "Seems a bit strange to have it so close to the kitchen… What if a fire goes out?" she does have a good point there, I'll admit.

"The library was a later addition." Trode explained. "The royal guard's quarters had already been built on the east wing, so that leaves the library for the west wing for symmetry. Now originally, there were far more rooms separating the library from the kitchen, but as years passed by, the library kept expanding and thus left with the design you see now."

"Oh."

"Well, now that we've made it to our destination, it's safe to say that the tour is over." I said with a subdued voice as I went to the door's handle, which thankfully wasn't covered with vines. "I know it wasn't an inviting and happy one, but I still hope you liked taking in the sights…or not."

Everyone else frowned in sympathy. "Guv…" Yangus whispered.

I shook my head in order to clear my mind. "A-Anyways… Let's go seek what we need." and with that said, I opened the library's door and led everyone else through.

To be continued…

Eight: Wow... There sure was a lot going on in this chapter.

Indeed. From mentioning more characters and referencing games from the Touhou series, to the trek of finding the ship, to the flashback, to describing the ruined environment of destroyed Trodain, to trying to apply some focus on the characters' feelings about Trodain's state, and finally to the music selection. I was getting so worn out from writing such a long chapter, that I ultimately decided to stop right there at when they arrived at the library to prevent this from getting any longer than it should (though I will admit that I originally planned to write more from that point...).

Despite all that, I think I did a fine job with this one. Selecting the music from Ys VIII to match up with the current state of Trodain was surprisingly very easy, with "The Sibylline Road" sounding quite melancholic for a field theme (especially on the parts where the different flutes kick in) and "One Dream, One Reality" perfectly capturing the atmosphere of a devastated place that used to be majestic, with an extra touch of sorrowfulness for good measure.

Eight: I couldn't agree more. *sigh* I just want to be done with this place already, but it's only gonna happen in the next chapter...

Just have patience, Eight! Well, see you next time!

Trivia for this chapter:

1. The incidents described by Marisa all reference each game in the Touhou series by the following order: Perfect Cherry Blossom and Imperishable Night, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody and Hidden Star in Four Seasons, Subterranean Animism and Ten Desires, and Sunken Fossil World.

2. Additionally, Reimu mentioning the event involving a flying ship and the incident about humans losing hope reference the games Undefined Fantastic Object and Hopeless Masquerade respectively.

3. The part where Reimu mentions Yuuka having destroyed her shrine with a giant flower is a reference to one of the endings in Lotus Land Story, a PC-98 Touhou game in which it has a different canon from the Windows games.